I am sad to report that after 4 years of faithful service my favorite soldering iron died yesterday in a freak power-surge accident. I wasn’t even aware that a soldering iron could die, but I guess it can. There was some sort of noise in the room, I don’t know if the air conditioner shorted out or spiked or what… the PS2 kept running though… but then my soldering iron went cold! Everything else on the power strip was fine, including my beloved glue gun.

I guess it was time, the rubber handle was pretty worn through and all, but it’s still strange. If anyone knows what could have caused this I’d be curious to find out. Granted a new 15-watt iron is only $8 bucks but you gotta wonder…

In other news that people might actually care about, I’ll have a brand-new portable on the site later this week. With TRANSPARENT sides so you can see the last things my old iron ever soldered! Sigh… At least my old Atari 800 still works.

Yes, that’s right! Since I still get emails asking about it, I decided that it was time to build another Portable Playstation! To be honest my original PSp was one of my least favorite designs, so here’s the newest incarnation!

This unit was built by hand, with no CNC cutting machinery used at all! It’s yet another portable for my “Project 42” – the purpose of which I hope to explain soon. (Hint: It’s for the good of mankind)

The main body of this PSone portable measures 8.75″ x 5″ x 1″, the circle thing that holds the 5″ screen is 6″ in diameter and 1/2″ thick. And there’s stereo sound, which sounds great! The screen flips up to reveal the disc. For more pictures & details on this unit, visit the Project 42 page and scroll down to portable #5.

I’m going to be gone for the next week (finally taking a vacation!) but soon after I get back I’ll bestow the world with even more portables!

I was just looking on my site here and noticed I hadn’t updated in nearly 2 weeks! What’s wrong with me?

For the past 2 weeks I have been working on what is probably my most complex portable yet. I guess it’s not that it’s really terribly difficult, there’s just so much stuff to do for it. If my luck holds it should be done this weekend and I can update the site with it.

So don’t worry, I haven’t fallen into a pit of hyenas or anything! Stay tuned!

This unit has a 3″ screen and the case measures 4.75″ x 6.75″ x 1.5″, which isn’t much bigger than the NOAC NESp I built last month. Only 1/2″ taller. I actually built this portable out of balsa wood because I thought it’d be an interesting thing to try. Well, that and engraving plastic of course.

Alas, I could not implement stereo sound into this one. It would have increased the difficulty too much. But I’ve added some other interesting features instead. For more details scope out the Project 42 page and scroll down to portable #4.

If there’s one portable people ask me to build a lot, it’s the Sega Dreamcast. If there’s another system they ask about almost as much, it’s the Super Nintendo.

Well, here ya go! (Click photo for large version with lots of detail)

Some specs on this unit:

For more info and specs on this latest creation of mine, visit the Project 42 page and scroll down to portable #3.

Person #1 at water cooler: “Did you see that Ben built yet another new NES portable?”
Person #2: “Again? Geez, maybe it was better when he hardly updated his site at all…”
Person #1: “Well, I guess a slew of NESp’s is better than nothing…”

Here’s my latest portable – the Nintendo Entertainment System Portable, built with CNC machinery. I used a laser engraver again, much like the NOAC NESp below. For a bit more info on this machine, check out the Project 42 page and scroll down to portable #2.

Don’t worry – I promise my next portable won’t be a regular Nintendo!

Ta-da!

Measuring a mere 4.75″ x 6.25 x 1.5″, it is the smallest portable game system I have ever built. It’s barely larger than the cartridge, which slides down the back…

It runs off 4 regular AA batteries and the screen has been modified to use white LED’s. This saves power – the entire unit only consumes around 400mA. I’ve working on this project off and on since June of 2003. For the entire story and more pics & specs, check out the NESp page! Enjoy!